Can Art Briles, like some have done, revive his blemished career?

Rarely does a coach entangled in controversy simply give in. Whether his redemptive effort is immediate or delayed, the coach fights to recover a career slipping away, the decades of good equity he built suddenly corroding. Art Briles faces crushing accusation: that he was complicit in helping protect football players accused of sexual assault.

Wall Street Journal

Why NBA Players Bristle at the Whistle

Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles was stretching on the court before his first game in the NBA when he was suddenly terrified by a disturbing sound: the referee’s whistle.

Maxim

Inside Baseball's Dangerous Obsession With the 100-MPH Fastball

It's baseball’s Faustian deal: If a pitcher can throw 100 mph, he’ll become an instant star—and then, almost certainly, he’ll be destroyed.

VICE.com

Public Sex and Hidden Knives: The Nightmares of a Massive Club Halloween Party

Halloween emboldens costumed partiers to embrace false constructs for a night, discarding their identities as well as their inhibitions. They consume more and care less, making them extremely volatile headaches for employees at bars and nightclubs throwing Halloween parties.

Rolling Stone

INSIDE CHICAGO'S ENDLESS CYCLE OF GUN VIOLENCEHow the death of beloved basketball star Mikey Haynes led to more killing

Early in the evening on July 26, 2012, Michael Haynes was cruising around Morgan Park on Chicago's Far South Side when he and his friends, Harry "Slick" Fullilove and Lester "Doogie" Freeman, got word of a fight about to break out. Haynes — who went by Mikey, though also answered to "Big Bro," "Lil' Bro," and "God Bro," because so many Morgan Park residents considered him family — was a 22-year-old basketball star five days away from heading to Iona College in New York. Slick owned the Buick and was letting Mikey drive to take a farewell victory lap of the neighborhood.

Before breaking into Hollywood, comedian Adam Carolla spent 12 years in construction. Now he spends 12 hours a week on his podcast venting about everything from government handouts to specious “service” dogs on airplanes to proper pizza toppings. He approaches everything with an I-can-do-it-better-myself attitude. It drives his most passionate pursuit: restoring Paul Newman’s race cars. He has spent nearly $1 million acquiring and will spend another $1 million rebuilding seven of Newman’s race cars–the largest known collection in the world.

Justin Verlander had a mantra growing up: You’re not famous until _____. That blank space motivated and humbled him. He set goals but also reminded himself never to settle. The 32-year-old Detroit Tigers righthander claims he cannot remember his first feat because it “happened pretty quickly.” Still, it is safe to assume that a teenager with a fastball chasing 100mph who frequently filled and replaced that blank with several rarefied accomplishments.

The Wall Street Journal

One Last Fight Before the Fire Goes Out

For the final boxing match of his life on Saturday night, Todd Velten wanted to savor everything. “I want to pay attention, to hear the crowd and hear the yells,” Velten said before the bout at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. In particular, there was one sound the 10-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department wanted to enjoy for the last time: “When the cops boo.” Velten fought in the 32nd annual Battle of the Badges between New York City's fire and police departments.

The New York Times

Hollywood’s Old-Time Star Makers Are Swooping In on YouTube’s Party

The star-making system of the future, it turns out, needs the star-making system of the past — or at least a swarm of agents and managers has decided it does: The middle men and women have arrived, eroding YouTube’s status as the quintessential do-it-yourself enterprise.

The New York Times

Developing Top Talent or Hindering Process?

The 16th-ranked junior player was rallying at the Sportime tennis center on Randalls Island on a recent afternoon when the owner of the tennis academy there swaggered onto the court for a peek at one of his pet projects, Noah Rubin. That owner is John McEnroe, revered as one of the sport’s greats, with a style all his own.

The New York Times

A Long Road Home, With Further Still to Go

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — As a profession, minor league baseball offers frequent mobility but little job security. Chris Schwinden spent five years climbing the ladder of the Mets’ minor league system, reaching the majors several times but never sticking.

The New York Times

Four Seniors Look Beyond an Unlikely Run

With their underdog College World Series run over, their improbable dash to prominence completed, Stony Brook University’s baseball team came together one last time for the sake of a game. The New York Mets honored the Stony Brook Seawolves before a game against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night at Citi Field.

The New York Times

Rays’ Joe Maddon: The King of Shifts

Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher likes to call Tampa Bay Rays Manager Joe Maddon “the mad scientist,” and with good reason. When the two teams met, in St. Petersburg, Fla., on the opening weekend of the regular season, the Rays’ fielders moved to the left and to the right and straight into the Yankees’ heads.

The New York Times

Courtside Troupe Seeks Dancers Who Defy Age and Other Stereotypes

As she stood in front of a dance studio mirror, Shirley Koehler struggled to keep up with a barrage of instructions from the choreographer: spin and stomp, twirl, nod and flex. And finally, slap your backside.

The New York Times

The 10-Day N.B.A. Contract: A Call-Up’s Tiny Window to Impress

Andre Emmett was shooting jumpers in an empty arena at the edge of Nevada when the N.B.A. came calling two weeks ago. Practice had ended for the Reno Bighorns of the N.B.A. Development League, but Emmett, 29, had retreated to his “comfort area,” the court, a source of salvation and frustration for him. He was nearly seven years removed from his last N.B.A. game, and now the Nets were making him an offer: a contract for 10 days.

The New York Times

After Four Decades, It’s About the Journey

In the middle of his 40th year as the men’s basketball coach at Yeshiva University, Jonathan Halpert, normally quick with a wisecrack, could not joke his way past the truth: his team was playing poorly.

The New York Times

At Aqueduct, Clubhouse and Casino Are Different Turfs

The opening of Resorts World’s new neon-blazing casino at the graying 117-year-old Aqueduct Racetrack, the “racino,” is more of a culture clash than a gambling hybrid.

The New York Times

New Doubt Over Arrest That Ended a Dream

On the night of Oct. 6, 2005, a young New York City police officer named Michael Daragjati effectively ended Jared Williams’s hopes of playing in the major leagues. On Oct. 17, six years after Williams was arrested, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn brought criminal charges against Daragjati, 32, for violating the civil rights of a black man he is suspected of falsely arresting in April. In a telephone call that government investigators say they intercepted the day after the arrest, Daragjati was recorded telling a friend that he had “fried” another black man.